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| Northern Illinois basketball players Bianca Brown (left) and Sarah Rogers talk during a game earlier this season at the NIU Convocation Center. Brown said players were thrown off by the timing of coach Carol Owens resigning earlier this week. (Beck Diefenbach – bdiefenbach@daily-chronicle.com) |
For senior-to-be Northern Illinois guard Bianca Brown, the news of women’s basketball coach Carol Owens resigning after five seasons was unexpected to say the least.
“I’m not going to lie, it’s very shocking and extremely disappointing especially being a senior,” Brown said late Thursday night. “You never expect that you’re not going to finish your last year without the coach that you came in with. But at the same time, I’ve matured since I’ve been here and I’m able to look at the situation and perceive it in a different light as a young adult.
“I understand, but at the same time we’re disappointed and we’re hurt.”
Brown said the team was most thrown off by the timing of Owens’ unexpected resignation, adding that there is a lot of rebuilding going on within the team and players looked to Owens for guidance on that process.
Now, Brown says the team is in limbo and waiting around for the unexpected while NIU athletic director Jeff Compher conducts a search for the next coach.
But Brown feels like Compher will listen to the current players if they have any input during the search.
“Jeff Compher made it clear that if we had any concerns or any suggestions,” Brown said, “or even if we had any qualities that we wanted to voice as far as what we were comfortable with with the previous coaching staff and what we would like to see with someone else stepping into the position that we were more than welcome to come to his office and talk to him and that he would definitely consider it when looking for the new coach.”
Brown said some of her teammates already have made appointments to sit down with Compher and offer their suggestions, though no specific names or candidates have been mentioned. Compher said Thursday he would take a serious look at all candidates, including any assistant on staff that does apply.
One thing Brown said she personally would like to see is someone from the current coaching staff staying on regardless if it is as a head coach or assistant coach.
“Building a rapport and a relationship with somebody over three years is not something that can easily be made up within one season,” she said. “I’ve known these coaches since my junior year of high school, so that rapport and that relationship we have has been established over years and years and years. It’s hard to rebuild that or rekindle that with somebody else.”
If that doesn’t happen, Brown said the team would move on and it was up to them to improve on a 10-19 season that ended with a first-round loss at Miami (Ohio) in the MAC Tournament.
“I know that if it wasn’t absolutely necessary for coach to leave, that she wouldn’t have left,” Brown said. “Everything happens for a reason.”
